Become a member

If you’re not sure about taking the pledge, but want to try out giving a fixed proportion of your income to the most effective charities without any long-term commitment, click here to sign up to Try Giving. Further details are below.

How do I join?

What is the pledge?

The Pledge commits you to giving at least 10% of your pre-tax income until retirement to the charities you believe will do the most good in the world. It does not commit you to donating to the charities Giving What We Can recommends, although we believe that our research is an extremely useful tool in determining the most effective charities.

For students and the unemployed, the spirit of the Pledge requires you to give 1% of your spending money, (which does not include money received to pay tuition fees), but 10% of your future income once employed.

Of course, the Pledge is in no way legally binding. It is a commitment entered into voluntarily and enforced solely by your own conscience.

Why a pledge?

We take the Pledge for three reasons:

Commitment: By pre-committing to giving, we are more likely to stick to our aims and give more than we otherwise might. It helps us to plan for donations in our budgets, and it serves as a ‘line in the sand’ to help us to resist temptations to stop giving.

Community: By becoming part of a group who all take the Pledge, we can support each other in sticking to our giving aims and help each other with advice and tips.

Publicity: Taking the Pledge shows the strength of our convictions to the general public. It can inspire others to give and help us to forge a world in which giving is normal and expected.

Keeping track of the pledge

Each year, Giving What We Can carry out a review of our members' donations and request that they record their donations, recipients and donation dates, as well as annual income, using My Giving.

This review is optional, although the information it provides us with is very useful for the following reasons:

It allows us to track the proportion of members who follow through on their pledge, showing us whether the commitment we encourage is realistic and is working.

It allows us to quantify the impact that we have had on the charities we recommend, by combining the amount people have donated with the amount they would have donated had they not joined Giving What We Can.

If for any reason you would prefer not to provide this information, please let us know, with a confirmation of whether you have kept to your pledge.

Not ready yet? Try Giving

Not ready to give 10%? Rather than making a life-long commitment straight away, why not sign up with us to Try Giving?

This allows you to set a percentage of your income to give, and how long you want to give it for. You’ll be able to use our unique 'My Giving' dashboard to record your giving and to see how close you are to meeting your target. When it comes to an end, you will have the option to extend it, to increase the amount you give, or to take the Pledge if you are ready.

If you’ve always wanted to give more to charities that do incredible things, Try Giving is an excellent way to keep yourself on-track and motivated.